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The upper part of the image shows the 3D grid map of the environment. The lower part shows clarified and obscured layers of the map W.
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This article presents a novel method for the management of UAVs formations. Based on the fast marching square (FM2) technique, the proposed method allows the generation of soft realizable paths for a formation in leader–followers configuration, keeping a desired geometry among its different agents. The solution presented here also allows the UAVs f...
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... The Robotics Lab research group at the University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) developed the algorithms to find a feasible path, which was returned as a four-dimensional (4D) trajectory. The details of these algorithms have already been described in other articles [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], where their potential can be better discovered, since only part of their possibilities was used in the real flights during the project. The task of the algorithms was to provide the drone operators with a deconflicted trajectory based on their flight intentions, capabilities and some existing constraints: ...
Within the framework of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, one of the main goals of the Labyrinth project was to develop and test the Conflict Management services of a U-space-based Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system. The U-space concept of operations (ConOps) provides a high-level description of the architecture, requirements and functionalities of these systems, but the implementer has a certain degree of freedom in aspects like the techniques used or some policies and procedures. The current document describes some of those implementation decisions. The prototype included part of the services defined by the ConOps, namely e-identification, Tracking, Geo-awareness, Drone Aeronautical Information Management, Geo-fence Provision, Operation Plan Preparation/Optimization, Operation Plan Processing, Strategic Conflict Resolution, Tactical Conflict Resolution, Emergency Management, Monitoring, Traffic Information and Legal Recording. Moreover, a Web app interface was developed for the operator/pilot. The system was tested in simulations and real visual line of sight (VLOS) and beyond VLOS (BVLOS) flights, with both vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and fixed-wing platforms, while assisting final users interested in incorporating drones to support their tasks. The development and testing of the environment provided lessons at different levels: functionalities, compatibility, procedures, information, usability, ground control station (GCS) integration and aircrew roles.
... With the development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and increasing demand for mission requirements [1][2][3][4], aircraft cooperative formation control has received considerable attention. In the past few decades, researchers have proposed many methods for cooperative formation including leader-follower, virtual structure, behaviorbased methods, which are applied in the formation control of UAVs [1,2], spacecrafts [5,6], robotics [7,8], etc. ...
... With the development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and increasing demand for mission requirements [1][2][3][4], aircraft cooperative formation control has received considerable attention. In the past few decades, researchers have proposed many methods for cooperative formation including leader-follower, virtual structure, behaviorbased methods, which are applied in the formation control of UAVs [1,2], spacecrafts [5,6], robotics [7,8], etc. Compared with the above three methods, the consensus method [9] is more robust and extensible, and is a general framework that contains these methods [10]. ...
This paper investigates a fully distributed time-varying formation tracking problem for a group of fixed-wing aircraft. The fixed-wing aircraft formation control system consists of an outer-loop trajectory control subsystem and an inner-loop attitude control subsystem. For fixed-wing aircraft, it is crucial to consider the time delay of the engine response, the model uncertainties, the tracking capability of the attitude commands in the inner loop, and other agility performances of the aircraft. To address the problems related to the input time delay and model uncertainties, a predictive extended state observer-based fully distributed time-varying formation tracking control (PESO-TVFTC) protocol is proposed. To satisfy the constraints set by the attitude tracking quickness and the trajectory tracking smoothness, the low gain feedback technique is introduced in the protocol to keep the control inputs for the outer loop within the desired saturation constraints. Through theoretical analysis, it is proved that the multiple aircraft systems can achieve time-varying formation tracking consensus under specific initial conditions and feasibility conditions, and it is shown that the upper bounds of the PESO gains are restricted by the time delay. Numerical simulations are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of and the improvements in the proposed method.
... This approach introduces a repulsive force against obstacles and the other UAVs in the environment. More details can be seen in [38]. Figure 16 shows the trajectories of the followers in a) XY view and b) the trajectories followed by the UAVs, whereas Figure 17 shows the trajectories of leader and followers over the terrain surface. ...
In this paper, we present a study on coverage missions carried out by UAV formations in 3D environments. These missions are designed to be applied in tracking and search and rescue missions, especially in the case of accidents. In this manner, the presented method focuses on the path planning stage, the objective of which is to compute a convenient trajectory to completely cover a certain area in a determined environment. The methodology followed uses a Gaussian mixture to approximate a probability of containment distribution along with the Fast Marching Square (FM2
) as path planner. The Gaussians permit to define a zigzag trajectory that optimizes the path. Next, a first 2D geometric path perpendicular to the Voronoi diagram of the Gaussian distribution is calculated, obtained by skeletonization. To this path, the height above the ground is added plus the desired flight height to make it 3D. Finally, the FM2
method for formations is applied to make the path smooth and safe enough to be followed by UAVs. The simulation experiments show that the proposed method achieves good results for the zigzag path in terms of smoothness, safety and distance to cover the desired area through the formation of UAVs.
The unmanned aerial vehicle formation plays a crucial role in numerous applications, such as reconnaissance, agricultural plant protection, and electric power inspection. This paper provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the unmanned aerial vehicle swarm communication networks and formation control strategies. First, the most commonly used unmanned aerial vehicles are introduced and compared. Next, the entire process of the formation task, from the formation assignment to the formation transformation, is detailed described. At last, the widely adopted communication networks are analyzed, and the existing formation control strategies of the UAV swarm are compared, which shows that the distributed formation control is superior to the centralized method and is the future development trend.
